It’s often said that fortune favors the bold, and few drivers in the modern era of motorsports personify that adage quite as well as two-time F1 world champion Emerson Fittipaldi. His first race win, at the 1970 U.S. Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, came in just his fourth F1 start, ensuring the posthumous world championship for his late teammate, Jochen Rindt. At age 25, in 1972, he became the sport’s youngest champion, an honor he held until Fernando Alonso earned his first F1 title in 2005, at age 24. Then there are Fittipaldi’s two wins at the Indianapolis 500, as well as his CART championship, which made him a hero to later Brazilian champions like Ayrton Senna and Rubens Barrichello.

Born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on December 12, 1946, Emerson and his older brother, Wilson, were raised on a steady diet of racing, thanks to their motorsport journalist father. Soon enough, their own interests turned to racing, including motorcycles, hydrofoils, and, eventually, go-karts. When their father proved unwilling to fund the boys’ racing exploits, Emerson and Wilson began an automotive accessory business, followed by a racing kart business and a Formula Vee business. By age 18, Emerson had captured the Brazilian karting championship, and by age 21 he had taken the Brazilian Formula Vee championship.

Racing F3 in 1969, Fittipaldi’s first year in England. Photo by Gerald Swan.

Convinced that his future lay in racing and not mechanical engineering, Emerson Fittipaldi quit school and moved to England at age 22. His first barrier proved to be language, as Fittipaldi spoke only Portuguese, but his skill at driving and repairing race cars soon overcame any inability to speak English. Campaigning a Formula Ford, Fittipaldi quickly racked up three wins and a string of podium finishes, a performance good enough to earn him a spot racing in Formula Three for the Jim Russell Driving School. Despite entering the 1969 F3 season late, a string of nine victories delivered the series championship to Fittipaldi.

The 1970 season began with Fittipaldi driving a Lotus 59B in Formula Two competition with Team Bardahl. His consistent performances earned him a Formula One test with Lotus, and at the midpoint of the 1970 season, a full-time ride for the team in a third car, alongside championship points leader Jochen Rindt and John Miles. Tragedy struck the team in Italy, when Rindt was killed while practicing for the race at Monza. Fittipaldi himself had suffered a high-speed crash at the track, but walked away without serious injury; still, the events were enough to convince Miles that designing cars for Lotus, not racing them, was a better career path. That put Fittipaldi in a difficult position: With just four F1 races under his belt, the young Brazilian found himself in the role of team leader. Fittipaldi wasted no time in proving to Colin Chapman that his decision was a correct one; at the team’s very next race, the U.S. Grand Prix in Watkins Glen, Fittipaldi took home a victory and clinched the posthumous championship for Jochen Rindt.

In 1971, driving the Lotus 72. Photo by Lothar Spurzem.

Despite his remarkable performance in the 1970 season, Fittipaldi managed just three podium finishes in 1971, as Lotus proved incapable of matching the dominant performance of Tyrrell-Ford and its driver, Jackie Stewart. The following year, 1972, started with an early retirement in the season-opening Argentine Grand Prix, but Fittipaldi’s luck would turn around in South Africa, where he finished second. It would foreshadow the bulk of Fittipaldi’s 1972 season; out of 12 races, he would win five and deliver podium finishes in another three, a performance that delivered his very first F1 championship.

Jackie Stewart would take the title in 1973, but Fittipaldi, now racing for McLaren, would earn his second championship in 1974. In 1975, Fittipaldi returned to McLaren, finishing second in the championship behind Ferrari’s Niki Lauda. Then, in 1976, Fittipaldi did the unthinkable, leaving McLaren for the fledgling Copersucar-Fittipaldi F1 team, run by brother Wilson Fittipaldi and funded by sponsorship from Brazil’s sugar industry. Under-resourced from the start, the team’s performance was dismal; out of 16 races, Fittipaldi finished just eight, placing no higher than sixth. The Brazilian would remain with his brother’s team (which later changed its name to Fittipaldi Automotive) through the 1980 season, but never enjoyed the success he had in the early years of his F1 career.

Though he announced his retirement from racing in 1980, his decision wouldn’t last long. In 1984, Fittipaldi entered the CART series in the United States, driving a few races for Patrick Racing. While he finished no higher than fourth in his debut season, it was clear that Emmo, as U.S. fans affectionately called him, had not lost his touch behind the wheel. Driving full seasons for Patrick Racing from 1985 through 1988, Fittipaldi posted the occasional win in each season, as well as a few podium finishes, earning enough points to consistently place him in the top 10 at the end of each year. As the 1980s came to a close, however, Emmo once again climbed to the top of his sport, capturing a win in the Indianapolis 500 and the series title for Patrick Racing.

Penske Racing recruited Fittipaldi for the 1990 season, and he’d capture his second Indy 500 win in 1993. His biggest mistake in the race, at least among American fans, was declining the customary milk in favor of orange juice in victory lane (although he did take a gulp of milk when advised of his error). It was a faux pas that some American fans never forgave, and Fittipaldi was occasionally booed by those steeped in Brickyard tradition throughout the remainder of his time here. A 1996 crash at the Michigan International Speedway left him with a broken neck; then, during his recovery from the crash in Michigan, Fittipaldi suffered an engine failure in his private airplane while surveying citrus groves on his farm in Brazil. The second crash in less than a year left him with a broken back, and became the deciding factor in his final retirement from professional racing; at age 50, Emmo stepped away from the sport that had dominated more than three decades of his life.

At Laguna Seca with Team Penske, 1991. Photo by Stuart Seeger.

These days, Emmo still drives the occasional charity or celebrity race, and one can’t help but wonder what may have been had Fittipaldi remained with McLaren during the peak of his F1 career. Regardless of his career decisions, his influence on Brazilian drivers who would follow in his footsteps is undeniable, and it’s safe to say that Emerson Fittipaldi had a far greater influence on the world of motorsports than his victories in multiple series, across multiple decades, would indicate.

16 Responses to “Racing Heroes – Emerson Fittipaldi”

Great story. I cant post here cause Youtube is blocked in this computer, but theres a video on Internet of Emerson driving a Ford Maverick in the old Interlagos circuit, in a break of the 1970 season. Its amazing!

What was broadcast from Victory Lane live and in living color on ABC, was Fittipaldi clearly being offered the customary bottle of milk more than once but clearly pushing it away in favor of the OJ. It was obviously no mistake, particularly in light of his orange growing interests in his native Brazil. He had already gone through the ritual with the milk on his first win, so it wasn’t new to him. Despite this incident he was a great driver and contributor to motorsports.

Fittipaldi drove the 1909 Alco race car (winner of the 1909 & 1910 Vanderbilt Cup races, and also a participant in the first Indy 500 race) at the 100th Anniversary celebration of the Indy 500 in 2011 with my friend and Alco owner Howard Kroplick along in the passenger seat. You can see more of this at Vanderbiltcupraces.com.

Anyone who was at the Glen in those years knows human civilization is just a fragile veneer. The behaviors were prototyped at the summer races, then brought to full barbarian flower at The Bog during the GP.

And Emmo was another one of Ford’s factory touring car drivers on the Capri team, along with (at various times and places) Hans Stuck, Jochen Mass, Graham Hill, Niki Lauda, Jackie Stewart, Helmut Marko, Harald Ertl, and several other F1 drivers. Emmo was positively freaked about about the scary nature of driving the Capri at the limits, however, and curtailed his appearances. Hahaha. Racing tin tops certainly isn’t like racing purpose-built monopostos!

I was always a fan of Fittipaldi despite the Copersucar debacle and the milk incident in 1993 – there is something very appealing in his love of motor racing. His great years were 1972 when he won 13 races (5 grand prix, 4 non championship F1 and 4 F2 races, 3 in Europe and 1 in Brazil. Also the fantastic and iconic partnership with Ronnie Peterson in 73 and the great Indycar season in 1989